The Royal Family seemingly broke protocol when they wished Prince Harry a happy 40th birthday on Sunday, in what could be seen as a major olive branch from King Charles.

Breaking two years of public silence, Buckingham Palace, closely followed by Kensington Palace within hours, sent the Duke of Sussex their well wishes, as he prepared to celebrate his milestone birthday across the pond.

According to the Mail, it has been stressed privately that, even though the Royal Family don't mark non-working royal birthdays on their social media, this was in line with the "tradition" of sending public good wishes on "significant" birthdays, the same being done to mark Meghan Markle and Prince Andrew's 40th and 60th birthday's, respectively.

Interestingly, the Firm's choice of a picture, from a visit to a start-up in Dublin in 2018 when Harry was still a working royal, did not include his wife, who was with him at the event and was seemingly cropped out by the photographer at the time.

The outlet's diary editor, Richard Eden, wrote on X: "This is intriguing: Buckingham Palace has previously said birthday wishes were sent on social media only to 'working royals'."

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